Weight Regain After Dieting

For the overwhelming majority of dieters, weight loss from fad diets or diet pills is regained within a matter of months or years, leading to yet another fad diet, weight loss, weight regain, etc. This repetitive weight loss then gain is known as “yo-yo dieting” or “weight-cycling”.

There is some evidence that repeated weight loss/regain makes it more difficult to lose weight each time – presumably because your body adjusts more easily to a low-calorie intake, and quickly slows down it’s metabolic rate – and that the stress of repeated dieting may have adverse health effects. A 1988 study of over 11,000 Harvard alumni found markedly higher death rates from cardiovascular disease among male alumni whose weights had changed significantly (up or down) between the early 60’s and 1977.